Life and Times of Jay Sterling: book 1
by Cat the Believer
Summary: * book title: Only Blood Will Tell* When Darren Shan and Steve Leonard were just kids, before the Cirque Du Freak changed their lives forever, they had two, very strange girls in their group of friends. This is only the beginning of the twisted tale for the two girls. Summary sucks!
1. Prologue

Before Darren Shan and Steve Leonard learned about the Cirque Du Freak, they had two really close friends, me and my twin Crowe. My name is Jay Sterling; our parents weren't really creative and named us after birds. We all were really close, so close people would tease us that we all were double dating at all times, but we didn't care all that much. We were happy to be in each others company, until one night drove us all apart.

They say that the world creates people of greatness, great magnificent warriors to protect everything from disaster and doom. I'm starting to believe it, you might not believe me, you might; it's your choice. I'll tell you this, the world never appreciates warriors or those who sacrifice themselves for the greater good, I use to not too, until something similar happened to me.

We all take everything for granted, hell most of y'all don't even know what the hell's going around in the world or what slithers in the shadows. Well, you're lucky then, you bastards. Crowe and I have become a part of a world that you would think would only exist in your worst nightmares. Well, sorry to be the one to burst your bubble of ignorance, but the shadows are dangerous.

There are things in the shadows that will harm you, despise you, even kill you when given the chance, but, luckily for you, they won't attack those ignorant of them unless they're hungry.

So, ignore this story and go about your day if you don't want to learn about any of this, if you continue, I admire your bravery, or it might be stupidity, but who am I to judge.

There are always things that go 'bump' in the night, my friends, but I'm one of the few people, who 'bump' back.

So, sit back and enjoy the ride if you plan on sticking with us. I hope you're not squeamish, because there will be blood; tons of it.

This is my story.


	2. Chapter 1: The Beginning

"Miss Jay, please get ready. You and Miss Crowe will be late for school." An elderly woman in an old-timely dress said to me, my pigtails swung around my body as I turned to the door. My ice blue eyes darkened with hatred at the woman as I turned from the door after I closed it, and began changing with my twin, who was my identical except for her eye color and hair length. "Sis, don't worry, Darren will be happy to see us." Crowe spoke softly, she only really talked to me. I nodded, slipping my shoes on and standing up, "Come on. Darren might start worrying." Crowe quietly chuckled at my slight joke as we left the sanctity of our bedroom and walked off to school.

Bright green eyes popped out from behind a red and panting face, seeing us walk up. He grinned widely, waving madly at us, "Jay! Crowe! Over here!" we heard him yell and waved back as we walked over. The blue eyes turned to a pair of brown that just sat down next to him, "Hey, Darren, who ya call over?" Darren grinned again as he replied, "Jay and Crowe. I know you'd be happy to see Jay, Steve." Darren nudged Steve in the ribs a couple of times before Steve smacked him in the back of the head as we sat down across from them. "Hey, guys." I said, smiling at them, as Crowe sat down beside me and nodded at them, her cheeks bright red like always.

Darren grinned at both of us as he replied, "Hey Jay, hey Crowe, how are y'all?" I shrugged my thin shoulders, resting my elbows on the table we all sat at as I replied, "Fine for the most part, aggravated at the maid, but that's it." Darren and Steve looked at each other confusedly then at me and Crowe, Steve saying, "What did she do now?", "Well," I started, twirling a lock of bangs, "She was bitching about us getting to school on time again." Steve and Darren had slightly sympathetic expressions as I sighed and rested my head on the table roughly, "I'm sure everything will be better when you get home, Jay." Darren said, trying to raise my spirits, but I only grunted in reply. Crowe rubbed my back as Steve and Darren began to make plans to hang out that night.

The school day went smoothly for the most part for all of us, hanging out with Darren, Steve, and Crowe and getting on the teacher's nerves. By the end of the day me and Steve were laughing together about a prank we pulled on the male and female popular kids just a few minutes ago and Crowe and Darren were shaking their heads in semi-shame at us, but their shoulders were moving up and down in laughter, cause the prank was too funny. I stood up after my laughing fit was done, then nudged Steve to quiet him down, seeing a teacher approaching, which we all began to talk and act as if we hadn't laughed or done anything out of the ordinary. Me and Steve sighed in relief when the teacher just walked passed and soon we started laughing again. Then the day ended for us and we all walked off the campus and down the road together, Tommy Morris chatting animatedly with Steve and me for details about the prank we pulled.

Once everyone got to the fork in the road that divided everyone, me and Crowe waved quietly at everyone and left down the street that held our house, which was almost as large as a mansion, it just didn't have all the yard space of a mansion, so it really didn't count as one. I sighed and slumped my shoulders slightly as we approached the walkway up to the house, Crowe right behind me. I quietly opened the front door and walked in, Crowe walking in and closing it behind us, we soon made our way up the large flight of stairs to the second floor were our bedroom was and entered, it was a moderately large room, which held a futon, a bunk bed/futon combination, and a few dressers with a television on top of one. We both set our bags down and sat on the futon, sighing for no real reason until we picked ourselves up and went back downstairs and walked into the kitchen. As we walked through the 'living room' to get to the kitchen and we noticed that our parents, Annabell and John Sterling, were sitting at their work table crunching numbers and everything of the sort. I rolled my eyes and lead Crowe into the kitchen as we both slipped our aprons on to start cooking.

After about roughly 30 minutes, we came out of the kitchen with plates in our hands and placing one each in front of our parents, who looked up at the plate as they were placed in front of them, gave a quick thank you and went back to crunching numbers. I rolled my eyes again at them and me and Crowe went back into the kitchen to eat our dinner. We ate in silence for the most part, the only sounds really being the scratching of pencils across paper from our parents and us writing to each other about something to do when we were done with dinner. We soon agreed upon going off to the graveyard and old theater outside town, knowing we wouldn't get caught because Malda had taken the day off when we went to school. After a few more minutes of eating we both got up, placed our empty plates in the sink and went up stairs to put our boots on, making sure to unlock the window so we could sneak back in when we got home when our parents were in bed, soon we made our way out towards the graveyard.

We quickly made our way to the graveyard, having gone there for years, since we moved to the town, and easily found the hole in the gate we always use to get in. I crawled in first to make sure the coast was clear, then I motioned for Crowe, who crawled through next and we made our way through the headstones to the best view of the town, the edge of the cemetery on top of the hill. Me and Crowe sat down in the grass when we got to the top of the hill, enjoying the cool breeze and silence that the night always brought us. I lay back in the grass, letting my long pigtails fan out beside me as I sighed contently and smiled, staring at the star filled and cloudless sky. "Hey sis..." Crowe started, causing me to lift myself up slightly as I replied, "What is it, Crowe?" Crowe turned her whole body around so she could stare at me in the eyes as she continued, "Do you still want to be a vampire?" I smiled at her as I sat up completely and mimicked Crowe and looked her dead in the face as well and said, "Yeah, of course I do, you remember our promise. We cut our thighs to seal it with blood, remember." Crowe lightly smiled at that as she said, "I know, but I never know if you'd change your mind or not." I smiled back and rested my hand on Crowe's and replied, "Don't worry, Crowe, we're sisters till the end, family past the end, and together even in the hereafter. Don't forget that, alright." Crowe's smile got slightly bigger as she rested her free hand on top of mine as she replied, "Alright, I won't." I grinned at her, "That a girl."I said, both of us laughing like little birds chirping.

We spent several hours talking and singing random songs that popped into our heads, enjoying the peace we had together; I soon stood up, holding my hand out to Crowe as I said, "Come on and let's head over to the theater before it gets to late too." Crowe nodded, taking the offered hand and being pulled up, she saw the time on my watch and frowned, "I don't think we'll have time, sis." I looked at her confused and asked, "What do you mean?" She pointed at my watch as she said, "It's nearly Midnight already and it'll be nearly 1 by the time we get there, because it's on the whole other side of town." I chewed on the inside of my mouth in thought and sighed in defeat, "Alright, let's head home then." Crowe nodded as she followed me back towards the gate of the cemetery and make our way home.


	3. Chapter 2: Flyers from the Dark

We didn't try to rush ourselves on the way home, since it wasn't even half an hour from the cemetery to our house, so we walked calmly down the twisting road that lead back to our house. The street was littered with worn down or abandoned buildings, we loved looking at the buildings and making false stories for them. There was an old shop on that road, me and Crowe had found a way into it when we were still new to the town, so we snuck in and explored the building, giving it as best a story as possible. I chuckled and poked Crowe's arm, getting her attention, "Hello, Lady Waldorf," I started, a smile spreading on Crowe's face, letting me continue, "I was wondering if I could get some new jewelry for my wife. I have a ball I am attending coming up and I wish to look my best and give my wife something new." Crowe straightened herself and gave herself an air of sophistication that you would feel from an antebellum woman as she spoke, "Well, Master Millstone, I can find you a beautiful new necklace for your wife, but I am not sure if it will suit her." I folded my arms across my chest as if I was offended as I spoke, "But you know who I am with, Lady Waldorf, you should know the type of jewelry she wishes for." Crowe chuckled and spoke again, "Of course, anything of the current trends. What color do you wish everythi…"Crowe stopped short in her sentence and stopped walking. I found it odd, so I followed Crowe's gaze to try and see what she was seeing, and it caused me to look confused.

A figure walked in the shadows towards us, the person was obviously male and extremely tall, especially compared to us. He never stepped into the streetlamp light, but we could tell he wore a cape and a top hat; we saw something fall out of his hand as he walked off into the even darker parts of the shadows and turned towards the alleyway. Me and Crowe walked to the mouth of the alleyway, but instantly lost sight due to the dark shadows, so we backed up a bit and found what the man dropped, it was a large piece of paper, like a full sheet, Crowe folded it up and handed it to me to slip into my pocket as we continued on our way back home. Once we arrived home, we climbed the tree and climbed into the bedroom that way, quickly and easily slipping into sleep clothes. We didn't waste to much time going to bed, the ordeal with the shadow man left us both slightly chilled, so we both agreed to look at the piece of paper in the morning, before we went to school, so we both soon climbed into our respective beds and easily fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 3: Plans

The next morning, me and Crowe got up before Malda got to the house and quickly pulled the paper out and began looking it over; it was a flyer for a circus of some sort, or that's what I thought at first glance, but I read it more clearly and found out it was for a Freak show, "The Cirque Du Freak…" Crowe mumbled, trying to keep this between the two of us, "The Circus of freaks, come and watch people with astonishing, dazzling, bewildering, and gut wrenching acts. Among these acts are Truska, the woman able to grow a beard; Rhamus Two-bellies, the man who swallows anything; the wolf man; and Evra Von, the snake-boy." I read along as Crowe read aloud, soon I spoke, "Come and watch with us for four days, the final day being Friday 29th. Directions to the old theater are down below. Tickets are $100 per person, limit only two per flyer. We hope to see you there." As we kept reading down, it began a warning telling us it wasn't for the faint of heart or young, me and Crowe both smiled at each other as we said together, "Let's go." we both chuckled and began to change into the skirts we had to wear for school, "They're playing at the old theater we always go to. How do you wanna do the money?" I asked, slipping my over-sized socks on before slipping my feet into a pair of sneakers. Crowe tapped her chin, then turned to me and said, "I'm thinking we each put in a hundred bill each, one of us goes with the flyer, gets the tickets and we go the next day." I nodded, slipping my tattered red tie onto my button down as I replied, "That sounds fair, then I'll go tonight, alright." Crowe nodded, zipping her backpack up as she shouldered it the same time I shouldered mine. We both made our way down stairs for a quick breakfast before we left.

Crowe and I talked as we walked to school, not even noticing the two people standing in our paths, I walked slightly ahead of Crowe, walking backwards, grinning and laughing until I ran into one of the figures in the path. "AH!" me and the person screamed as we fell, me landing on top of the person, who groaned as he sat up, me in his lap, I quickly got up and held out my hand, "I'm sorry, Steve, I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking." Steve chuckled as he took my extended hand and let me help him up, he dusted himself off as he spoke, "Its fine, Jay, I don't blame ya." I blushed, fiddling with one of my lengthy pigtails, it was a nervous quirk I had ever since it was developed when I was three, and Steve was the only one that caused me to act like that. Darren and Crowe began to talk with each other, both of them smiling and blushing, I could only imagine what they were talking about, but my thoughts were soon destroyed as the school bell rang, signaling we all had to go inside and begin the day's lessons. Crowe and I smiled at each other, knowing that at the end of the school day, I was going to go out and get two tickets for the Cirque Du Freak.

I couldn't sit still during the day, knowing that I was going to a Freak Show soon. I grinned, and jittered throughout class and Crowe had to catch me often. Steve and Darren kept looking at me like I was weird, but I wasn't too concerned, I was excited!


	5. Chapter 4: Tickets and Mixed Feelings

After school, Crowe and I walked with Darren and Steve like normal, chatting, laughing, and smiling like we always do around each other. Crowe and Darren were discussing different breeds of spiders and what they could do and exchanging information; me and Steve were talking about what kinds of pranks we could pull off again. After awhile of not talking and listening to Darren and Crowe talk, Steve cleared his throat and whispered in my ear, "I'm sorry, Jay." At first, I looked at him in confusion, then a wave of hurt and anger began to fill me as I realized what he was apologizing for; it was March at the time and that year on Valentine's Day, we had planned a date, but he stood me up and skipped out to go and get comics. A flare of red painted my cheeks in anger and hurt as I was about to yell curses at him, but I stopped myself and calmed down, knowing that getting angry at him now when it was basically a month past would be childish, and I didn't want to be known to hold a grudge. I took a deep breath and released it before I spoke, "Its fine, Steve." I smiled at him before turning my head and mumbled, "Why would you want to be seen with me anyways…" I was thankful no one heard me say that as me and Crowe made our way down the fork in the road to our house.

We waited until our parents were asleep and Malda was gone before I slipped the money and flyer into a pocket of my skirt and snuck out to the old theater to buy the tickets. I ran as hard as my legs could to get to the theater in decent time; it was nearly 11:30 by the time I arrived to the door and stood panting to catch my breath. I soon entered the door, like I've done for years, and looked around for someone who sold tickets; I walked fairly deep inside when I finally saw something, it was a very small person, no taller than my thigh or hip and it was wearing a blue cloak. I swallowed hard and licked my dry lips, "Excuse me," I started, getting the creature's attention, "Do you sell tickets for the Cirque Du Freak?" the little cloaked person nodded and walked up, both hands outstretched, one with tickets, the empty palm down. I shoved my hand into my pocket, pulling out the flyer and money, handing them to the person, who preceded to hand me exactly two tickets. "Thank you." I said and smiled and nodded my head at the person and shoved the tickets into my pocket and began running home again, a large grin on my face; I didn't even notice Darren who ran past me to get home from Steve's.

Crowe almost bolted up and squeaked when she heard tapping on the bedroom window, but she sighed and lightly chuckled at herself when she saw it was me, so she went over and opened the window. I easily slithered my way in and closed and locked the window, grinning still; which in turn caused Crowe to smile and ask, "Did you get them?" I nodded and pulled the two slips of paper out of my pocket and said, "Yep, it was so easy to get them. We have to make sure that mom, dad, or Malda don't find out about this, got it? We'd be hung high and skinned if we got caught." Crowe nodded quickly, taking the tickets and sticking them in a jewelry box she kept locked in a dresser she kept in her closet, "I'll pull them out when we get ready to leave, that alright?" she asked, turning back to me, and I had a smile and sat down on my bed as I replied, "It's fine, just don't forget they're there." Crowe nodded and got into her own bed, letting me change clothes and turn the lights out so we could sleep and talk with Darren and Steve about the cirque the next day.

The next day at school, I leaned over at Steve about to say something when Darren spoke first and startled me with what he said, "The Cirque Du Freak; the circus of freaks. Come and join us for four nights and see some of the world's most astounding acts." He soon began to list off several of the names, as Steve took the paper, looked it over, and handed it back to him. Me and Crowe looked at each other knowingly, then we quickly turned around when our teacher walked up and pulled the flyer from Darren's hands as he huffed, "What's this, a freak show?! I trust you weren't planning to go and participate in this barbaric act." The students shook their heads, and a few muttered amongst each other, a boy around my age raised his hand and asked, "Why did you call it barbaric? What is a freak show?" our teacher sighed heavily at the question, but his face lightened up slightly as he began, "Well, back in medieval days, freak shows, or bestiaries as they were also known as, were traveling groups that were owned normally by horrid people who only thought of money." We all watched and listened intently as the teacher's face flared with semi-anger as he continued, "The owners of the traveling shows would find people who were horribly deformed and shoved them into cramped cages and exploited them for money. The deformities would range from three eyes, one eye, body covered in hair, two noses, multiple ears, and other deformations of the sort. Now thankfully, they were banned and disbanded after several years, when Christianity began its way across Europe. Now, I hope that no one in this class will go to this monstrosity." Everyone nodded and verbally agreed before class went back to normal. I looked over at Steve and Darren, where Darren looked sad, but he perked up a bit as I grinned when Steve whispered, "We're going." I chuckled quietly at Steve, because I knew he'd say that. After school, I wanted to talk with Steve and Darren, but Steve wasn't in sight and Darren was too busy talking to Tommy and Allen, so me and Crowe decided to head on home and waved to Darren as we went passed.

Once we got to our street, I groaned, we saw more than the normal number of cars in the driveway; I looked over at Crowe and we both nodded, "Mom and Dad are having a party." we whispered in unison as we made our way up the path and into the crowded house. We grunted and mumbled in effort and slithered through the crowd towards the stairs and made our way up to the bedroom. We sighed heavily once we got into the safety of the room and set our bags down and sat down on our own beds, looking around the room and at each other, "What do we do? We don't have too many days left to go to the Cirque." Crowe said to break the silence; I rubbed my face in thought and said "With how the party looks they all should be gone by midnight. With it being a weekday helps a lot. So, we'll talk with the boys and we'll go tomorrow night, and see if Steve and Darren want to tag along with us." Crowe smiled softly and nodded, "You always have such good ideas, sis." I lightly blushed at the compliment, "Oh, Crowe, you know I'm just hot air." We both chuckled and scuttled around to look for something to do to keep from going down stairs. We never expected that a strange force was secretly morphing us to fit the destinies that we would have to face.


	6. Chapter 5: Let's Paint the Show!

I was the first to wake up that morning, so by the time Crowe was up, I cleaned the house, fixed us both breakfast and had everything ready for school, "Morning, Crowe, eggs and toast." I grinned as I slipped my apron off and hung it up, sitting when she did. We both ate quickly and made our way to school before Malda got to the house. We arrived at the school before the bell rang, so we went towards the soccer field and found Steve and Darren grinning under the large oak tree as we approached, "Hey boys." I grinned, watching them look over and grin back as they waved us over. "What's up with you, Jay? You seem in an awfully good mood? Did you finally kill Malda?" Steve teased, poking my cheek. I just grinned more as I spoke, "Me and Crowe and tickets to the Cirque Du Freak."

I wanted to laugh as I watched Steve and Darren's faces fall into happy shock as Steve exclaimed, "You got tickets as well!?" I grinned and waved the two pieces of paper at them. "Yeah, ya'll get tickets yet?" Steve grunted in disapproval as he folded his arms, "Yeah, I got them yesterday and had Darren, Tommy, and Allen search for the second one which Darren won." I just smiled again, "Cool. Ya'll wanna come and stay the night at our house then?" Steve and Darren looked at each other quizzically then looked at me and Crowe, "But… I thought ya'll didn't like people over at your house." Darren asked, "Well, ya'll are my and Crowe's friends. I don't like our parent's friends or our maid's friends over at the house. So, what do ya'll say?" Darren looked over at Steve, than they both nodded. "Excellent," I chirped, clapping my hands together, "So, how about tonight?" the boys nodded again and we all shook hands and left for class.

Throughout the day during breaks and lulls in class, the four of us made and finalized our plans for the evening; the boys would tell their parents that they were hanging out for the night and didn't know when they'd get home, bring sleepover items and go to Crowe and mine's house. We'd leave at around midnight when our parents were asleep and Malda was long gone for the day. We'd use the tree next to our window to get up and down through the window. My grin never left my face even after school and we all prepared for the night that we would never forget.

I opened the door later that afternoon, around dusk, and saw Steve and Darren there, arms full of snacks, drinks, and movies. "Come on in boys, go ahead and head up stairs, I'll take the movies to lighten the load." I grabbed the large, overflowing bag of movies from Steve's grip as I led them up the stairs towards the bedroom. I opened the door to a large room with a bathroom, a futon bed, a bunk bed, and a futon mattress on the floor; all viewing a decent sized flat screen television. Steve and Darren stared at the room in amazement, not even realizing that me and Crowe took the drinks and snacks and began setting them up on a large white table next to a mini fridge. "Make yourselves comfortable. We'll be leaving in about 2 hours from now through the window." Darren and Steve nodded, Crowe pulled a movie out of the bag Steve brought and set it up on the television. We spent the next 2 hours watching a bad horror movie and making fun of it.

"Come on, everyone's asleep. Jump quietly onto the tree limb and climb down into the flowerbed. Go." I sat on the ledge just outside the open window, guiding everyone and ready to help if needed. Darren was the one who needed help, once he was close to the ground he let go and almost fell on Steve. I jumped straight from the ledge, landing next to Crowe with a quiet grunt. "Come on, let's go." Soon we made the half hour walk to the old theater, not expecting our lives to change dramatically.

At the ticket booth, we saw the giant man, who told us his name was Mr. Tall, and all four of us handed our tickets over, him devouring them and allowing us to go in. The place was packed tightly, finding four seats together in about three rows from the stage. The lights began to dim as we made our way to the seats and listened to the warning. About half of the audience left after the warning, me, Crowe, Steve, and Darren were among the few who stayed. The event went smoothly, even though a woman had her arm bitten off by the Wolfman, a large hairy creature, whose fur as rough and spiky like a hedgehog's, and smelt like burnt rubber. I thought it was the best thing ever. "Ladies and Gentlemen," Mr. Tall announced, appearing on the stage, "Our next performance is one of great perplexity and uniqueness. I present to you, Mr. Crepsley and his performing spider, Madam Octa!" Everyone clapped as a man dressed in reddish-orange garb with a top hat and cape came onto the stage, taking Mr. Tall's place. The man, bowed his head, taking his hat off, and I looked over and noticed as Steve froze and began sweat heavily in the chilly building.

I was about to ask Steve if he was alright, when Mr. Crepsley began to speak his warning, "Good evening everyone. I am Larten Crepsley, and this is a very dangerous performance I am about to attempt, so please, as you have been told previously. Refrain from clapping, cheering, and any other loud noise, complete and utter silence is required." After he said that, he opened the small square cage he brought out with him and a large red and blue spider came out of it, causing several people to gasp in horror and causing Crowe and Darren to grin and sit on the edge of their seats, watching intently. I sat quietly watching intently as well, but not like Darren, Crowe and Steve, Steve especially. Steve had this look like he was there, but not really, like he was miles away on some other planet, and in all honesty, it scared me. I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but he bared his teeth at me when I tried to put my hand on his shoulder and I quickly retracted my hand, slightly scared of him. Once, Mr. Crepsley was finished, I watched him leave the stage and hug a woman that was behind the curtain, I think she was his girlfriend or wife. We sat and watched the rest of the event, I kept slightly away from Steve, but my fear faded, when the snake boy, Evra von, came out and I sat on the edge of my seat this time, watching the large snake slither past and I held my hand out and let him rub against my fingertips. I had the largest grin you'd ever see on me. Evra had another snake that came up with him, it was smaller than the first one, and it was the length of his arm span. He claimed it was the most poisonous snake in the world and there was no antidote made by science, but no one was afraid since he was taking care of it well. I watched as Crepsley made another entrance and held his flute in his hands; he soon began to play it and we watched as the snake moved with the music and danced with its owner. I soon had the idea of stealing the snake.

After the event, me, Crowe, and Darren were jumping from booth to booth, buying all sorts of souvenirs. Me, Crowe, Darren, and Steve started to make our way to the exit, following the flow of the crowd. Me and Crowe didn't even notice that Darren and Steve weren't behind them, or that they were going to get sucked into the biggest fight of the two boy's destinies. I realized that they weren't behind me, so I held Crowe's shoulder and whispered in her ear, "Head on home, I'm going to look for Steve and Darren." Crowe nodded and left as I fought against the crowd to look for Steve and Darren.

Once I was free from the crowd and they all left, I could hear voices, about three, coming from the auditorium; so I stealthily made my way to the auditorium. I noticed it was ajar, so I quietly opened it more and my eyes widened in shock at what I saw; Steve was talking to Larten Crepsley and the woman he hugged after his performance. I ducked behind the closest chair and crawled under them to get closer and listen to what they were talking about, which made my eyes widen again and pain to run through my body.

"What do you mean I have evil blood?!" I saw Steve shriek, Mr. Crepsley was slightly hunched over spitting on the ground, the woman rubbed his back and looked at Steve and spoke, "He said you have evil blood. That normally means that you have horrible and dark intentions. Vampire blood will allow those thoughts to come to reality and we cannot allow that to happen. I'm sorry." Wait, vampires? Crepsley and his girlfriend were vampires and… Steve wanted to be one?! I could feel the pain of heartbreak and slight anger as I tried to slide backwards through the chairs to leave, but I froze when I watched Steve run past and out of the door. I stayed there for a few more minutes and waited until Crepsley and his girlfriend left behind the curtain and I got up from the aisle I was in and made my way sadly through the aisles. I reached when I heard a voice, "Hey, girl, can I talk to you?" I turned around and got scared, Crepsley's girlfriend found me. I swallowed hard and nervously smiled, "S-s-sure, what do you want to talk about?" she gave me a soft smile, which allowed me to relax slightly as she asked, "Who was that boy that was talking to Crepsley? You must know him if you snuck in and listened to the conversation." She faintly smirked as I said and spoke, "His names Steve. He's a close friend of mine…" I tried to hide the obvious heartbreak in my eyes, but I failed at it. The woman lightly smiled sympathetically at me and patted my shoulder, "What's your name?" she asked looking my face over, I watched her blue eyes move as I spoke, "I'm Jay, like blue jay. What's your name?" she chuckled, "Nice name, I'm Maria. Why don't you go on home, I'm sure everything will be better for you when get some sleep." I nodded and turned, leaving through the door; I was extremely grateful that she never asked me why I was so brokenhearted looking. That would have been extremely awkward.

I arrived back to the house and got in the room, seeing Steve, Darren, and Crowe asleep as if nothing ever happened. I locked the window after I slipped in and I quickly slipped into my bed, trying not to disturb anyone and I never noticed the blue-gray eyes they followed my movements and watched my heartbroken face as I fell asleep before they closed again.

I tossed and turned often during the night, having nightmares of Steve becoming a vampire and slaughtering Crowe, Darren, and all of our friends, then he'd turn to me, grinning psychotically as he slowly advanced on me. I'd try to move, but I would be tied up, then he'd take extremely long nails and hold them at my throat before he slit my throat and leaned down to drink at the blood that was flowing out quickly. Little did I know that my dream was only the beginning of a series of nightmares that told me my fate and the fates of everyone else around me.


	7. Chapter 6: Saving Grace

The next day, the four of us went to school, acting like nothing happened between us. Crowe noticed that me, Darren, and Steve were all acting weird, but she didn't have the ability to investigate as the substitute teacher called everyone's attention to the day's lesson. Goody, fractions are fun… not.

As I was about to catch Steve in the hall after school, he ran after Darren, who ran from him. "Well… there's no sense in talking to the boys, huh, Crowe." I asked, turning to my twin who walked up and quietly replied, "Yeah, come on, let's go home, Malda will be furious with us if we're late." I nodded and turned my own back to the retreating figures of Darren and Steve and the pain that spiked through my chest whenever I look at Steve.

Once we returned home, I went straight to the kitchen and began to clean, slipping my black and blue apron on. Crowe wasn't far behind me, also taking her apron, a black and purple one, and began cooking dinner for the family. I really didn't understand why there was a maid at all in the house. Crowe and I did all the cleaning and cooking, all the maid did was keep us in line when we were younger children. When I was finished cleaning, I watched Crowe cook, I noticed that she was distracted with something. "Hey, Crowe," I began, causing Crowe to turn her large violet eyes to me, "You ok? You seem distracted." Crowe lightly shrugged her shoulders and quietly replied, "I'm just thinking is all.", "About what?" I pressed; I felt she was hiding something from I. But Crowe refused to mention anymore about it and went right back to cooking. Ouch, talk about cold shoulder…

That night, I refused to sleep, all sorts of thing were running through my head, things I never would have thought of before. Dark, twisted thoughts of cutting a vein on an unsuspecting person and drinking the red life liquid that poured from it. My eyes shot open, I could feel my heart racing like a jack rabbit, and the only cause was the fact that I was a having vampiric dream. I wanted to wake Crowe up and talk with her, but I went against it, leaving the warmth of my futon, I wrote a note for Crowe in case I didn't get back before she woke up, and left through the window to the old theater that the Cirque Du Freak played at a couple of weeks back.

Once I arrived, I snuck in like I would before, and made my way back to the stage area. I entered the auditorium, it looked as worn down and near death as ever, but I made my way to the stage as surely as ever. I got to the stage and stepped up onto it, turning to face the nearly destroyed chairs. "Ladies and Gentlemen," I began in as much of a loud booming voice as I could muster, "You all gather here tonight to witness feats of truly astonishing nature and that is exactly what you will get. But, I must warn you now. These feats are not to be taken lightly, they are extremely dangerous and only these people can attempt them and survive. These feats will shock you, astonish you, maybe even drive you mad, but if you do not wish to partake in witnessing these astonishing feats, the exits are located at the backs of the room, please leave now." I took a few minutes to pause, I smiled lightly at myself and began speaking again, "Now, bare witness to the feats of the talented, Jay Sterling!" I looked around before I moved to the center and against the edge of the stage and spoke, "Hello, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Jay Sterling, I will perform my greatest talent, vocal/musical hypnotism. I will ask for a volunteer from the crowd. Who would like to join me?" I looked around, then walked back to the center of the stage and faced an imaginary person and spoke, "Thank you for volunteering, sir. Everyone give this brave man a round of applause." I smiled as I let the imaginary crowd cheer before I faced the imaginary man again and closed my eyes, inhaling deeply.

I soon let my breath go and began to sing Angels Are Weeping by Nox Arcana and Michelle Belinger, "_Meet my obsession my opium dream, lost in indulgence I'm not what I seem,"_

__I kept my eyes closed until I was done, and when I was done, a deep blush crossed my cheeks, Steve Leonard or Leopard as everyone in school called him, was sitting in one of the chairs closest to the stage. He grinned up at me as he got up and made his way onto the stage, coming to stand a foot away, "You've got a nice singing voice," he started, causing me to blush deeper, "To bad you don't sound like a 'jay bird' when you talk, too." That made my eyes widen in disbelief, then narrow in anger as I replied, "What do you mean by that, Leonard?" he just grinned wickedly as he shrugged and turned on his heels and left. I growled at myself as I stormed out of the theatre as well, not knowing what would happen with my beloved and quiet twin, Crowe when I got back, but first, I had to get a certain snake that I began to enjoy.

I went down to the basement of the theater, watching all of the members of the cirque du freak sleep peacefully. It didn't take long for me to find the large snake that belonged and was a bed to Evra Von. I looked around the scaled boy and snake for the smaller of the two snakes Evra had with him; it wasn't easy to find in the dark. I finally found it on top the larger snake's head, coiled up in its sleep. As I crept up, it lifted it head and stared at me, softly hissing pleasantly. I held an arm out for it, which it happily and easily slithered onto and wrapped around my shoulders and neck. I grinned widely at the snake as I crept my way back through the group of performers and left the theater, unaware that I was watched the entire time, I was so excited that I didn't see a figure do a similar thing with a certain red and blue spider.

It took only a few minutes for me to scale the large tree in the front yard and climb into the bedroom window, even with a snake under my shirt. I saw Crowe was still asleep, so I decided to take a quick shower, still feeling the sweat from my dream earlier. I gathered my items then walked over to the closet to get some clothes and grabbed the clothes I wanted and with the rest of my clothes, I made a small nest for the snake, letting it crawl off of me and curl up happily. I made sure to keep the closet door ajar and I wrote a note for Crowe and put it on the door, that way she wouldn't freak out that a large, extremely poisonous snake was in the closest. I soon quickly went and took a shower, coming back and falling asleep quickly and happily, listening to the sounds of hissing and soft snores.

It's been two weeks since I stole the snake and nothing has happened. No one's come looking for it, no one in the house has discovered it except Crowe, but I showed it to her, and it has been well taken care of. To celebrate the snake becoming mine in a sense, I caught a large rat from the neighboring abandoned house and watched it eat, I was grinning from ear to ear with happiness and excitement.

I chewed on my lip one afternoon, after me and Crowe got done cooking, cleaning, and doing homework, I kept looking over at the closest in thought, "Jay?" Crowe started, snapping my attention to her, "What are you thinking about?" I lightly smiled at the decision I mentally made as I said, "Can you still play your flute?" Crowe looked at me in confusion and then her eyes showed the realization and stuttered, "Y-y-y-yeah, but do you really want to dance with it? There's no cure for the bite if you get bite. It can kill with just one bite." I grinned, pulling out her flute and handing it to her, "I know the risks and I trust you completely. Besides, it likes me a lot, so I doubt I'll get bit." I continued grinning as I coaxed the snake out of the closet and sat back down; I never truly realized the situation I put my own twin sister into when I decided to dance with a snake.

My heart began to speed up, I've never felt excitement like this before, it must be bordering on the scared, but I trusted Crowe with my life, so I tried not to move too much. I felt and watched as the snake began to climb up onto me when Crowe began playing, until it was on my chest going towards my shoulders. I smiled at Crowe, seeing she had stopped to watch me carefully, Crowe nodded and began to play again, letting the snake crawl up higher and turn around slightly, so it could easily coil and slither around across my chest and shoulders. Crowe nodded at me and I soon began to slowly move my body, causing the snake to get slightly faster. Soon, all concentration was broken on both of us as we quickly looked up at the door as a familiar voice entered and opened the door, "Miss Jay, Miss Crowe, what are you two doing in here?" when the face of Malda spotted us, the large blue and green snake stopped slithering across me, perching on my shoulder, Malda gave out a loud cry, causing Crowe to watch the snake as it tensed and struck me in the side, causing me to scream too, soon falling limp onto the floor, where it proceeded over to Malda, striking her in the leg, to knock her down and it kept attached to her to pump in more venom to kill her. Crowe watched in silent horror as the snake did that then proceeded to go to the window and slither out, which Crowe quickly closed and locked, soon running back to me, her cell phone in hand and dialing an ambulance. She didn't even notice the red-orange blur that appeared in the window, taking hold of the snake that was on the sill and disappearing again.

Crowe was in hysterical tears, watching the paramedics cart me out of the house. She climbed into the car with our parents, the tears silently streaming now. She sadly watched the red and blue lights in front of her, knowing what happened to me and the maid, but she didn't have the heart or guts to tell anyone. When they all got to the hospital after I did, I know they sat in the waiting room, wondering what happened and pestered Crowe for answers, but she just clammed up tight and never spoke through her tears. I was having a weird out of body experience, I wonder if I actually died and I was watching all of this happen, but not long after I was put in, a familiar figure was ushered into the ER as well, I could feel my out of body eyes widen when I realized it was Steve, two small puncture marks were visible in the side of his neck. I wanted to go over to him and tell him that he couldn't die, but I think I was dead, so I wouldn't have done much good to him. I looked around in curiosity and saw Darren and Crowe talking to each other in hushed tones, I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I'm sure they knew what they both did, then I saw them look out of a window, back at each other, then run out of the hospital; and even to this day, I don't fully know what kind of a deal they made with Crepsley to save me and Steve.


End file.
